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#mamanblogeuse and #mamablogger_de. A cross- country comparison on the concept of mothers and motherhood on Instagram A cross-country comparison on the concept of mothers and motherhood on Instagram
Abstract
In social networks such as Instagram, many mothers present themselves together with their children („sharenting“). The present study investigates how this (self-) presentation takes place and which visual messages play a role in it. Using visual analysis, we compared pictures of German- and French-language Instagram posts. It turns out that both national contexts are dominated by images that can be interpreted as visualizations of intensive motherhood. The visual analysis brings out the intimate connection between the mothers and their children, and at the same time a professional understanding of motherhood. Despite different national traditions and frameworks of motherhood in France and Germany, there are great similarities in the visual representation of mothers on Instagram. This finding suggests that the growing use of social media may be accompanied by an internationalization of social and visual norms.
Sharenting (paylaşananababalık), bireylerin çocuklarını ve ebevenliğini mahremiyet sınırlarını aşarak sosyal medya platformlarında sergilemesinden ortaya çıkan bir kavramdır. Bu çalışmada 2017-2023 yılları arasında çalışılmaya başlayan bu kavramın bibliyometrik özetini vermek amaçlanmaktadır. Araştırmada bibliyometrik analiz yöntemi ve VOSviewer haritalama analizi kullanılmıştır. Web of Science veri tabanından 95 araştırma makalesi çalışmanın örneklemine dahil edilerek, referanslar, atıf yapılan ülkeler, kurumlar, yazarlar haritası, anahtar kelimeler haritası, yıllara göre çalışma sayısı, çalışma alanlarının açığa çıkarılması, çalışma türleri, çalışma yapılan diller hakkında derin bir bilgi haritası sunulmaktadır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, sharenting kavramı ile ilgili çalışmalar yıllar geçtikçe artmaktadır. 2017’ de 2 çalışma yapılırken, 2022 ve 2023 yıllarında 23 çalışma yapılmıştır. Konuyla ilgili en fazla yayın çıkaran üniversiteler arasında University of Antwerp (n=6), University of Bologna (n=6); en çok yayın yapan ülkeler arasında USA (n=18) ilk sırada yer alırken, en çok atıf alan yazarlar arasında Blum-Ross, Alicia (124 atıf), Livingstone, Sonia (124 atıf), Verswijvel, Karen (77 atıf) yer almaktadır. Ortak anahtar sözcükler incelendiğinde, sharenting (n=60), social media (n=32), children (n=16), parents (n=13), privacy (n=12) kelimeleri kullanılırken, sharenting (paylaşananababalık) kavramı ile ilgili 95 yayında toplam 816 atıf yapılmıştır. Çalışmada elde edilen veriler kapsamında sharenting (paylaşananababalık) konusun son zamanlarda popüler hale gelen bir kavram olduğu açığa çıkmaktadır. Türkiye’ de sayılı çalışma yapılan bu konu, araştırmacılara yol gösterici kaynak haritası sunduğu için önem taşımaktadır.
Many people had to stay at home with their families during the pandemic because of social distancing guidelines and lockdowns. This study aims to explore the content of 'sharenting' of parents during the early COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine periods in Turkey. In total, 401 posts were collected from public Instagram accounts of parents who shared their own children's photos or videos between 18th-30th April 2020, via the most commonly used hashtags of #korona (#corona) and #evdekal (#stayhome). Descriptive content analysis was conducted within identified categories. Results revealed that the popular hashtag #stayathome is particularly important for its optimistic representation of the lockdown process in society. Content analysis results show that with the inclusion of social media shares, family members spent more time together, which can be seen as one of the positive consequences of this period. In the results of continued sharenting during the early pandemic, children's faces were mainly kept visible, which might concern children's privacy. Additionally, mothers shared more during this period. Consequently, education to increase awareness of such concepts gains importance, especially for the well-being and privacy of children and any future implications.
This paper focuses on an analysis of the narratives present in a set of eight Instagram accounts devoted to sharing information on maternity in the Spanish context. In a qualitative approach that uses participant observation and content analysis (5184 posts), the main objective is to identify the narratives 1 surrounding maternity and to elaborate their relationship with feminist discourses, thus comparing them with previous and current conceptions and representations of motherhood in media. A second aim is to understand the role of information and expertise in these spaces. The results reveal three approaches: affirmative and child-centred narratives, feminist counter-narratives, and discourses on professionalization and authoritative knowledge.
The prominence of social media in contemporary life has led more mothers to search for parenting information through various Internet and social media channels. The following study examines the impact that Instagram mommy blog content has on the perceived parenting skill of the typical American mother. In this experiment, participants were exposed to one of two types of Instagram motherhood blogger content. The first type of content did not address the struggles of motherhood (referred to as an “alpha-mom” blogger content), while the second type of content (referred to as a “realistic” blogger content) did. After reviewing the content, participants will be asked a series of Likert-type scale questions to gauge their perceived parenting skill. We hypothesized that participants who were exposed to the “alpha-mom” content would have a lower belief in their own parenting skill than those who were exposed to content from the “realistic” blogger. The hypothesis was not supported. However, we did find that participants who received some of their parenting information from Internet sources had a lower belief in their parenting skill than participants who did not receive their parenting information from online sources, regardless of the content to which they were exposed.
The rise of Instagram has prompted researchers to examine its effects on mental health, yet an overview of the current literature is missing. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to summarize research investigating the relationship between Instagram use and indicators of mental health such as self-reported well-being, depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol and drug use, and indicators of body image and disordered eating. Next, we aimed to provide an overview of possible key psychological variables that may be involved in the relationship between Instagram use and indicators of mental health, including social comparison, self-esteem, indicators of body image and disordered eating, self-presentation and belonginess factors. Our systematic search on Web of Science and Scopus led to the identification of 93 eligible articles. To sufficiently map the complexity of the relationship between Instagram use and indicators of mental health, we organized the research findings of every variable into four categories: Instagram membership, intensity of Instagram use, type of use and Instagram content and characteristics of Instagram profile. Most evidence has been obtained for the relationships between Instagram use and social comparison, body image, and disordered eating outcomes. Evidence for the relation between Instagram use and the other variables is inconclusive and, for certain constructs, still scarce. Therefore, more longitudinal and experimental research designs are needed to further support and extend these initial findings.
This article examines how practices of family photography are being transformed in the digital sphere, specifically on Instagram. While research on ‘digital intimacies’ focusses on romantic or peer interactions, the digital practices of families – especially intergenerational interactions – remain understudied. We use Janet Finch’s notion of ‘family display’ to consider how Instagram affords new modes of performing and sharing family life. This concept has exciting potential for media-rich online spaces, but so far, only a few studies examine how social media platforms extend the display of family practices. To explore family photography on Instagram, we analyse a sample of 200 Instagram posts. We argue that features specific to photo-sharing in digital spaces, such as hashtags, emojis and captions, open up new aspects of and audiences for family display. Our analysis paves the way for future research about how relationships are displayed across a range of digital platforms.
Background: In recent decades there has been growing interest in the concept of intensive parenting. However, the literature is mostly qualitative and based on Anglo-Saxon countries. This raises the question of how best to operationalise the concept in a wider cross-national setting. Objective: This paper aims to operationalise the theoretical concept of intensive parenting in a cross-national perspective. Methods: The data for this study come from the CROss-National Online Survey panel [CRONOS], conducted in Estonia, Great Britain, and Slovenia in 2017. The analysis is based on 18 items on norms related to raising children. Exploratory factor analyses were carried out to identify dimensions of intensive parenting. Variation by respondents' sociodemographics for the different dimensions was also analysed. Results: The results reveal four main dimensions regarding contemporary norms of parenting: a child-centred approach, a focus on stimulating children's development, personal responsibility to do one's best for one's children, and pressure to follow experts' advice. These four dimensions were found in all three countries. Conclusions: The results partly confirm the conception of intensive parenting originally suggested by Hays (1986). They also reveal that the phenomenon is not restricted to Anglo-Saxon countries but can be operationalised in a similar way in other countries. The findings also reveal some variation by sociodemographic characteristics, but not in a systematic way. Contribution: This is the first study to use random probability population-based samples to operationalise the concept of intensive parenting in a cross-national perspective.
Platformed sociality has become an elemental part of existential processes and struggles. Previous research has shown that digital contexts offer lifelines of support and a sense of belonging based on shared vulnerabilities. By combining phenomenological and ethnographic approaches, this article explores involuntary childlessness (IC) online in so-called trying-to-conceive (TTC) contexts on Instagram and in blogs. The analysis is driven by the following questions: What are the particularities of digital lifeline communication in the context of IC? Can lifeline communication shape what is coming into being in the context of wished-for children and/or motherhood? Can (digital) life be challenged, extended, or created in this context? Drawing on interviews and online posts from 260 Instagram accounts and three blogs, I argue that digital lifeline communication in TTC environments facilitates digital existence and “digital life” as the notions of motherhood and longed-for and lost children attain a form of digital materiality through posts and discussions.
Background:
Traditionally, guidance and support to new parents have come from family, friends, and health care providers. However, the internet and social media are growing sources of guidance and support for parents. Little is known about how the internet and social media are used by parents of young infants and specifically about parental perceptions of the internet and social media as sources of parenting and infant health information.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to explore, using qualitative methods, parental perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of the internet and social media as sources of parenting and health information regarding their infant.
Methods:
A total of 28 mothers participated in focus groups or individual interviews. Probing questions concerning parenting and health information sources were asked. Themes were developed in an iterative manner from coded data.
Results:
The central themes were (1) reasons that mothers turn to the internet for parenting and health information, (2) cautionary advice about the internet, and (3) reasons that mothers turn to social media for parenting and health information. Mothers appreciated the ability to gather unlimited information and multiple opinions quickly and anonymously, but recognized the need to use reputable sources of information. Mothers also appreciated the immediacy of affirmation, support, and tailored information available through social media.
Conclusions:
The internet and social media are rapidly becoming important and trusted sources of parenting and health information that mothers turn to when making infant care decisions.
Zusammenfassung
An welchen Prinzipien orientieren sich Eltern heute bei der Erziehung ihrer Kinder? Dieser Frage geht die in diesem Beitrag vorgestellte Studie nach, indem sie Texte, die Eltern im Internet schreiben (Familienblogs) untersucht. Es wird deutlich, dass die konsequente Orientierung an den Bedürfnissen von Kindern das durchgängige Leitmotiv in den Aussagen zur Erziehung ist. Kinder großzuziehen wird in den analysierten Familienblogs als anspruchsvolle und fordernde Aufgabe beschrieben, die die Bloggenden mit großem Engagement ausführen. Für diese ausgeprägte Orientierung an den Bedürfnissen der Kinder wird der Begriff der intensiven Elternschaft vorgeschlagen. Die Familienblogs lassen nicht nur Aussagen zur Einstellung der bloggenden Eltern zu, sondern sie sind zugleich eine von anderen Eltern stark rezipierte Informationsquelle. Sie bieten damit zum einen Orientierung für Eltern, sind aber zugleich auch in hohem Maße meinungsbildend. Die Analyse der Familienblogs weist darauf hin, dass sich die intensive Elternschaft als neues Paradigma für die Erziehung in Familien entwickelt.
Over the past 200 years, early childhood provision in Germany has primarily been oriented towards the goal of work-care reconciliation. Even though there is a long tradition in Germany of education-oriented approaches, the primary goal has always been care. The extensive development of early childhood centres for children under three years of age over the past 10 years is likewise driven by the goal of reconciling career and family life. However, the issue of improving young children’s education has also become more important. This is clear from the German federal states’ education plans, which are a curricular guideline for the form and content of work in early childhood centres. The education plans show, however, that there is a lack of clarity in terms of how education is understood. Two different understandings of education are implicitly competing with one another: the school-based, normative and the social constructivist understanding. This contribution illustrates this dichotomy by means of the key pedagogical processes of observation and documentation. A subsequent empirical analysis of learning stories from Germany confirms that there is an unclear and contradictory understanding of education in pedagogical practice too.
Although young couples often want an egalitarian division of paid and family work, this changes after starting a family. Beside economic reasons, cultural perceptions of a “good mother” can also contribute to this effect. This article investigates how mothers think about “intensive mothering” and live it. This is an ideal which defines the child (and its care) as a woman’s highest priority. A logistic regression analyses is carried out on the basis of the data from the survey about Familienleitbilder to find out who is in favor of “intensive mothering”. It becomes evident, that this is particularly true for West German or religious mothers. A structural equation model shows how this disposition influences the behavior. The belief that the mother is the best caregiver for the child has no direct influence on the actual care, but acts indirect over distrust against external child care. East German or highly educated mothers are less likely to look after their children themselves. This persistent difference between Eastern and Western Germany can be explained by historically grown and intergenerationally transmitted norms.
Zusammenfassung
Obwohl sich junge Paare oft eine egalitäre Aufteilung der Erwerbs- und Familienarbeit wünschen, ändert sich dies nach der Familiengründung häufig. Neben ökonomischen Gründen können auch kulturelle Vorstellungen von einer „guten Mutter“ diesen Effekt mitverursachen. Im Beitrag wird untersucht, wie Mütter von Kleinkindern zum „intensive mothering“ stehen und dieses leben. Darunter versteht man ein Ideal, welches das Kind (und dessen Betreuung) als höchste Priorität der Frau definiert. Es werden die Daten der Leitbildstudie verwendet und in einer logistischen Regression analysiert, wer das „intensive mothering“ befürwortet. Es zeigt sich u.a., dass dies insbesondere bei westdeutschen und religiösen Müttern der Fall ist. In Strukturgleichungsmodellen wird dargestellt, wie diese Disposition das Verhalten begünstigt. Die Überzeugung, als Mutter die beste Betreuung zu sein, hat keinen direkten Einfluss auf die tatsächliche Betreuung, sondern wirkt indirekt durch das Misstrauen gegenüber der Fremdbetreuung. Ostdeutsche oder höher gebildete Mütter betreuen ihre Kinder seltener selbst. Historisch gewachsene Normen, verstärkt durch intergenerationale Transmission, erklären den persistierenden Ost-West-Unterschied.
En el presente artículo se presenta un estudio de caso, desarrollado en el marco del proyecto de investigación Selfiestories y personal data (financiado por la fundación BBVA, 2014-2017). A partir de una metodología híbrida que combina una aproximación Big Data y etnografía se analizan algunos perfiles de Instagram, pertenecientes a mujeres que publicaron selfies poco después de haber dado a luz, con el fin de comprender las distintas narrativas sobre la maternidad que proyectan, así como los arquetipos que emergen de ellas. Visões contemporâneas da maternidade no Instagram: uma aproximação mista do estudo da selfie como narrativa pessoal Resumo: Este artigo, apresenta um estudo de caso que forma parte do projeto de pesquisa Selfiestories y personal data (financiado pela fundação BBVA, 2014-2017). Utilizando una metodologia híbrida que combina uma aproximação entre Big Data e etnografia alguns perfis de Instagram, pertencentes a mulheres que publicaram selfies pouco despois de dar a luz são analisados, com a finalidade de compreender as distintas narrativas sobre a maternidade que estas imagens projetam, assim como os arquétipos que emergem das mesmas.
Following in the celebrity trajectory of mommy bloggers, global micro-microcelebrities, and reality TV families, family Influencers on social media are one genre of microcelebrity for whom the “anchor” content in which they demonstrate their creative talents, such as producing musical covers or comedy sketches, is a highly profitable endeavor. Yet, this commerce is sustained by an undercurrent of “filler” content wherein everyday routines of domestic life are shared with followers as a form of “calibrated amateurism.” Calibrated amateurism is a practice and aesthetic in which actors in an attention economy labor specifically over crafting contrived authenticity that portrays the raw aesthetic of an amateur, whether or not they really are amateurs by status or practice, by relying on the performance ecology of appropriate platforms, affordances, tools, cultural vernacular, and social capital. In this article, I consider the anatomy of calibrated amateurism, and how this practice relates to follower engagement and responses. While some follower responses have highlighted concerns over the children’s well-being, a vast majority overtly signal their love, support, and even envy toward such parenting. I draw on ethnographically informed content analysis of two group of family Influencers on social media to illustrate the enactment and value of calibrated amateurism in an increasingly saturated ecology and, investigate how such parents justify the digital labor in which their children partake to produce viable narratives of domestic life.
As recent feminist studies have recognized, breastfeeding is an interesting area of investigation since it encompasses several social and cultural issues involving both the private and the public sphere. These range from how motherhood is lived and interpreted, the representation of the body, how children are reared, women’s self-representation, breastfeeding support, and maternal work. The article illustrates a qualitative analysis of a sample of Instagram images tagged with breastfeeding-related words, with the aim of analyzing how breastfeeding is represented and the relationship between private and public discourses. For this reason, images coming from both mothers and breastfeeding promoters were analyzed. The analysis shows that breastfeeding representation on Instagram confirms, and also goes beyond, the common image of breastfeeding a newborn, showing toddlers’ breastfeeding or mothers pumping breastmilk. It also shows that breastfeeding may be connected with a wider approach to parenthood, based on proximity, and that children are active subjects of the decisions taken. The research indicates that the relationship between public and private discourses is an overlapping of shades. On one hand, research results showed several strategies enacted by parents for protecting their children’s privacy; on the other hand, the functions of images posted veer between fixing a private moment and creating public discourses using specific hashtags aimed, for example, at normalizing public breastfeeding or offering new types of support. Instagram appears, then, as a platform where personal choices and beliefs can flow into public discourse and a place for investigating how public discourses and social and cultural issues (such as breastfeeding promotion and representation) shape the way that breastfeeding is lived.
This article analyzes how pregnant women perform their pregnancies on Instagram. We ask whether they rely on and reproduce pre-existing discourses aimed at morally regulating pregnancy, or reject them and construct their own alternatives. Pregnancy today is highly visible, intensely surveilled, marketed as a consumer identity, and feverishly stalked in its celebrity manifestations. This propagates narrow visions of what a “normal” pregnancy or “normal” pregnant woman should be like. We argue that pregnant women on Instagram do pregnancy via three overlapping and complimentary discourses of “learn it,” “buy it,” and “work it.” Together these form the current authoritative knowledge of pregnancy we call “intensive pregnancy” as performed on Instagram. Concurrently, this article highlights how the combined discursive power of hashtags, images, and captions may influence and enforce discursive hegemonies.
Social comparisons on social networking sites can be problematic for some individuals. However, this has never been examined in a parenting context, where the pressure for mothers to portray themselves as “perfect parents” may be high. The aim of the current study was to examine associations between making social comparisons on social networking sites with mothers’ parenting, mental health, and romantic relationship outcomes. In the iMom Project, 721 mothers completed a number of questionnaires regarding their social media use, parenting behaviors, and health outcomes. Results revealed that making social comparisons on social networking sites was related to parenting outcomes (in the form of higher levels of parental role overload, and lower levels of parental competence and perceived social support), relationship outcomes (in the form of more conflict over social networking sites and perceiving less positive coparenting relationships) and higher levels of maternal depression. This study adds to a growing literature suggesting that making social comparisons online may be associated with a number of negative outcomes, and extends it to the context of mothering. This study has implications for the way that mothers use social media, specifically in the use of social comparisons.
Despite the growing visibility of sonogram pictures online, there are as yet few critical explorations into how prenatal “digital birth” generates new ways of conceptualizing pregnancy, parenthood, and (digital) life course of children. This chapter aims to contribute to this nascent area of inquiry by addressing some of the ways in which the fetus acquires social visibility first via ultrasonography, then via online sharing platforms. We aim to ignite a discussion on the implications of the growing – and seemingly uncritical – online circulation of sonogram pictures by parents-to-be, exploring how visual and social media technologies become an integral part of performing pregnancy and mothering. We first offer an overview of literature on fetal ultrasound and delineate the increasing reconfiguration of medical technologies and cultural imagination into women’s embodied knowledge. The crux of our first argument lies in the power of visuality that constructs the reality of pregnancy, blurs the boundaries between clinical and social meanings of “seeing the fetus,” and transforms the imagined fetus into a tangible, “unborn baby.” In doing so, we draw attention to the role medical experts play in translating a blurry black and white scan into a picture of “cute” baby. Once constructed as such, the image serves as social currency on the Internet, through which expectant parents and their audiences engage in co-construction of being prenatal and parental. Through this co-enactment of imagined parenthood, we argue, ultrasound image becomes a complex hybrid of parental identity narratives (or their “selfies”), family photography, and most crucially, a public performance of “digitally engaged” parenthood. In line with recent critical discussions on “digitally engaged patient” (Lupton 2013), we argue that performing pregnancy online is becoming yet another addition to the ever-expanding responsibilities of expectant mothers, who are expected to constantly monitor and discipline their bodies for the sake of the fetus. However, given that the fetus has no agency to resist parents posting its “first pic” online, the impacts the digital birth and accompanying digital footprints may have on children remain uncertain. This chapter concludes with a discussion on potential ethical implications and privacy dilemmas with respect to the digital birth.
Selfies, blogs and lifelogging devices have become important ways in which we understand ourselves. Jill Walker Rettberg analyses these and related genres as three intertwined modes of self-representation: visual, written and quantitative. Rettberg explores topics like the meaning of Instagram filters, smartphone apps that write your diary for you, and the ways in which governments and commercial entities create their own representations of us from the digital traces we leave behind as we go through our lives.
BACKGROUND: The use of the Internet to search for medical and health-related information is increasing and associated with concerns around quality and safety.
OBJECTIVE:
We investigated the current use and perceptions on reliable websites for children's health information by parents.
METHODS:
Following institutional ethics approval, we conducted a survey of parents/guardians of children presenting for day surgery. A 20-item survey instrument developed and tested by the investigators was administered.
RESULTS:
Ninety-eight percent of respondents reported that they used the Internet to search for information about their child's health. Many respondents reported beginning their search at public search engines (80%); less than 20% reported starting their search at university/hospital-based websites. Common conditions such as colds/flu, skin conditions and fever were the most frequently searched, and unique conditions directly affecting the child were second. Despite low usage levels of university/hospital-based websites for health information, the majority of respondents (74%) regarded these as providing safe, accurate, and reliable information. In contrast, only 24% of respondents regarded public search engines as providing safe and reliable information. Fifty percent of respondents reported that they cross-checked information found on the internet with a family physician.
CONCLUSIONS:
An unprecedented majority of parents and guardians are using the Internet for their child's health information. Of concern is that parents and guardians are currently not using reliable and safe sources of information. Health care providers should begin to focus on improving access to safe, accurate, and reliable information through various modalities including education, designing for multiplatform, and better search engine optimization.
While social media research has provided detailed cumulative analyses of selected social media platforms and content, especially Twitter, newer platforms, apps, and visual content have been less extensively studied so far. This paper proposes a methodology for studying Instagram activity, building on established methods for Twitter research by initially examining hashtags, as common structural features to both platforms. In doing so, we outline methodological challenges to studying Instagram, especially in comparison to Twitter. Finally, we address critical questions around ethics and privacy for social media users and researchers alike, setting out key considerations for future social media research.
This article analyzes the new social type of the “yummy mummy” in British culture, which both marks a substantial cultural shift—given that the Western Christian tradition has typically positioned mothers as asexual—and is simultaneously produced by increasing economic inequalities (which are particularly marked in relation to childcare). Drawing from a range of sources, particularly celebrity guidebooks and “hen lit” novels, this article argues that the yummy mummy functions to elide such social contexts and espouses a girlish, high-consuming maternal ideal as a site of hyperindividualized psychological “maturity.” “Successful” maternal femininity is articulated by rejecting “environmentally conscious” behavior and by rendering what are presented as excessive eco-delusions both abject and transparent. This tendency is indicative of the conservative nature of the phenomenon, which is forced to disavow wider structures of social, political, and ecological dependency in order for its conservative fantasy of autonomous, individualizing retreatism to be maintained.
Die Entwicklung dessen, was wir immer häufiger mit visueller Kultur bezeichnen, ist wesentlich mit der Durchsetzung visueller Medien verbunden, insbesondere der Fotografie. Sie hat seit ihrer Erfindung in allen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen Funktionen übernommen, und sie ist heute das basale Medium der neuen Bildmedien. Die technischen Bilder sind nicht nur im öffentlichen Raum omnipräsent, sondern ebenso im privaten, und beinahe jeder ist nun selbst Bildproduzent. Angesichts dieser Entwicklungen wird der theoretische Diskurs in den Erziehungswissenschaften über die Bedeutung des Visuellen für das Aufwachsen und die Bildung ebenso schmerzlich vermisst wie methodische Zugänge zur Erschließung visueller Quellen. Die hier vorgelegte Arbeit macht es sich vor diesem Hintergrund zur Aufgabe, Fotografie als Medium in ihrer Bedeutung für die erziehungswissenschaftliche Forschung hervorzuheben und damit den Diskurs um das Visuelle in Erziehungsverhältnissen zu beleben und um die fotografische Perspektive zu erweitern. Es werden methodologische Grundlagen für einen quellenkritischen Umgang geschaffen und Standards für die Auswertung von (fotografischen) Bildern entwickelt, die ebenso für sozialwissenschaftliche und historische Untersuchungen gelten. Dabei werden die indexikalischen und ästhetischen Qualitäten der Fotografie unter der Prämisse der sozialen Praxis des Fotografierens und der spezifischen Produktions-, Distributions- und Rezeptionsverhältnisse des (technischen) Massenmediums gewürdigt. (DIPF/Orig.)
The main aim of the study was to investigate Instagram's impact on users’ mental well-being and behavior (including purchasing activity) during the pandemic.
The study was conducted on 359 respondents who stated that they used Instagram regularly. Three questionnaire tools were implemented: the Instagram Usage Questionnaire (original tool), the MSEI Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory by O'Brien and Epstein, and the Personal Data Sheet (original tool).
Significant negative correlations were obtained between self-esteem components: self-control, competence, lovability, identity integration, defensive self-enhancement, frequency, and intensity of social media use. The respondents declared no negative influence of Instagram on their current mental well-being. One group (21.2%) considered the influence beneficial to their mental well-being. Observing others’ Instagram profiles did not influence the activity of (most) users, including changing appearance, lifestyle, or making purchase decisions. Moreover, most respondents declared not making purchase decisions based on Instagram ads. The analysis of differences between purchasing and nonpurchasing groups showed significant discrepancies in these self-esteem components: likability, personal power, and competence. Significant differences regarding physical attractiveness, overall self-esteem, lovability, likability, personal power, competence, and vitality were reported between men who made purchase decisions based on Instagram messages and those who did not. Among women, these differences concerned only defensive self-enhancement.
The results confirm that prolonged/frequent use of social media can have a negative impact on self-esteem (including identity integration and self-control). However, a positive impact of Instagram on mental well-being was observed. Following (mostly) acquaintances (not influencers) and not undertaking activity (regarding purchasing decisions of Instagram-advertised products) may indicate emerging changes in society due to the pandemic.
Digitale Soziale Netzwerke sind für viele Menschen zu einem relevanten virtuellen Ort geworden. Vor dem Hintergrund der fortschreitenden gesellschaftlichen Modernisierung haben sie auch für Eltern an Bedeutung gewonnen. Social Media wird dabei zu einer Technologie, um Gemeinschaft zu anderen Eltern herzustellen und damit zu einem wichtigen Baustein des Doing Family. In diesem Beitrag wird eine Studie zu Fotos von Müttern und Kindern aus Deutschland auf der Online-Plattform Instagram vorgestellt, die unter dem Hashtag mamablogger_de veröffentlicht wurden. Die serielle Analyse von 238 Fotos zeigt eine starke Einheitlichkeit der Bildgestaltung. Eine ikonografisch-ikonologische Einzelbildanalyse von zwei exemplarischen Bildern arbeitet heraus, dass Mutterschaft durch eine große Nähe von Mutter und Kind inszeniert wird; die Bildgestaltung vermittelt Wärme, Natürlichkeit, Harmonie und Reinheit. Die Studie zeigt, dass die Selbstdarstellung von Müttern in Social Media an eine lange Geschichte von Mutter-Kind-Darstellungen anknüpft. Um Gemeinschaft herzustellen und sich auf Instagram zugehörig zu fühlen, wählen fast alle Mütter eine traditionelle Form der Selbstdarstellung. Instagram als hochmoderne Technologie des 21. Jahrhunderts kann so zu einer Revitalisierung traditioneller Stereotype von Mutterschaft beitragen.
Sharenting (sharing parenting on social media) has become a
widespread activity, and some of those parents become family
influencers. Female influencers have been on the rise, partly as an
alternative to the precariousness of the job market. This article presents
a qualitative study on 11 Portuguese mummy and family influencers,
analysing social media content observed throughout 2,5 years, as well as
media discourses on them. It focuses on how these female content
creators portray parenting and family, work-life balance as an influencer,
and their boundaries for privacy and intimacy. It demonstrates how
prominent mummy influencers reproduce a neoliberal ethos which favors
an individual management of conciliating motherhood and a career in the
context of post-austerity and precarity, through an emotional discourse
that promotes relatability with the audience, converted into an
essentially consumerist agenda.
Social scientists have documented a substantial increase in both mothers’ and fathers’ time spent with children since the 1960s in the United States. Yet parenting behaviors remain deeply divided by social class and gender, with important implications for the reproduction of inequality. To understand rising parental investments in children and persistent class and gender differences in parenting, popular accounts and academic studies have pointed to an apparent cultural shift toward norms of time-intensive, child-centered parenting, particularly for mothers and among middle-class parents. However, prior research has produced inconclusive evidence relating to social class, gender, and contemporary parenting norms. Using data from an original vignette survey experiment conducted with a nationally representative sample of more than 3,600 parents, this study examines cultural norms related to parenting elementary school-aged children, considering how both social class and gender shape views about good parenting. Results indicate that parents of different social classes express remarkably similar support for intensive mothering and fathering across a range of situations, whether sons or daughters are involved. These findings suggest that cultural norms of child-centered, time-intensive mothering and fathering are now pervasive, pointing to high contemporary standards for parental investments in children.
The sharenting practice, or the sharing of one’s parenting and children online, has become a popular topic of critical focus that decries it as an exploitative disregard for children’s privacy and rights. The practice is performed, however, by a population (i.e., parents) that is generally inclined to protect its children, raising the present research question of whether sharenting could be alternatively guided by self-presentational goals. Guided by the theoretical notion of the extended self, the present study qualitatively examines parents’ Instagram posts using constant comparative analysis to identify how parents self-present in their sharenting posts. The results identify three self-presentational categories that illustrate how parents’ social media posts that depict a parent–child relational identity may actually be intended representations of the parent’s self. Implications for theory are discussed, as well as practical implications for the appropriate management of parents’ identities in a manner that respects children’s rights and privacy.
Malaria is a major public health problem in Sudan. Climatic variability is the main
risk factor for seasonal and secular patterns of P. falciparum malaria transmission in
Gezira state. The purposes of this study is to (1) develop thresholds for action in a
malaria epidemic early warning system using three traditional statistical methods
including the mean number of malaria cases + 2 standard deviations (SD),
percentiles over the median (medium þ upper third quartile), and the cumulative
sum over prior 10 years (C-SUM) and (2) explore to what extent the climate
variability affects malaria transmission. Pearson’s correlation coefficient for
malaria incidence and rainfall, maximum temperature, relative humidity, and the
Blue Nile River level was statistically significant (p < 0.05). However, there was
an insignificant correlation between the number of malaria cases and the
minimum temperature. Furthermore, the number of cases in 2015 was
significantly higher than expected. An evaluation and comparison of the statistical
methods for the early detection of malaria showed that there was a considerable
variation in the number of cases exceeding an epidemic alert threshold.
Many mothers can find themselves increasingly isolated and overwhelmed after giving birth to a new baby. This period can be a source of extreme stress, anxiety and depression, which can not only have an economic impact on national health services, but can also have long-term effects on the development of the child. At the same time, social media use among most new mothers has become ubiquitous. This research investigates the role of social media, potentially as a mechanism for social support, among Australian mothers of young children aged from birth to 4 years. The findings indicate that participants had mixed responses to their social media use. While social support was deemed a benefit, there were also some negative aspects to social media use identified. The findings highlight the need to critically interrogate social media’s ability to act as a source of social support for new mothers.
Grief and mourning for deceased family members are an important part of family life. Whereas emotional expressions of sorrow had been reserved for friends and the closer family circle, this has changed dramatically since digital media enabled limitless sharing. Driven by the increasing mediatization of everyday life, more and more individuals have come to open up with private issues to the digital public. Often even intimate personal information of high emotionality like mourning is being disclosed. The sharing of grief online, not only establishes new ways of dealing with the death of a beloved person, but it also changes the way families remember and identify themselves. To show which new digital patterns in family memory have developed, Instagram hashtags were used to compile a large data set of photos and texts posted around the issue of family-related mourning in Germany. Altogether, 2,790 images and their corresponding texts were analyzed in order to find patterns for this kind of digital commemoration.
This paper examines two ‘ends’ of identity online – birth and death – through the analytical lens of specific hashtags on the Instagram platform. These ends are examined in tandem in an attempt to surface commonalities in the way that individuals use visual social media when sharing information about other people. A range of emerging norms in digital discourses about birth and death are uncovered, and it is significant that in both cases the individuals being talked about cannot reply for themselves. Issues of agency in representation therefore frame the analysis. After sorting through a number of entry points, images and videos with the #ultrasound and #funeral hashtags were tracked for three months in 2014. Ultrasound images and videos on Instagram revealed a range of communication and representation strategies, most highlighting social experiences and emotional peaks. There are, however, also significant privacy issues as a significant proportion of public accounts share personally identifiable metadata about the mother and unborn child, although these issue are not apparent in relation to funeral images. Unlike other social media platforms, grief on Instagram is found to be more about personal expressions of loss rather than affording spaces of collective commemoration. A range of related practices and themes, such as commerce and humour, were also documented as a part of the spectrum of activity on the Instagram platform. Norms specific to each collection emerged from this analysis, which are then compared to document research about other social media platforms, especially Facebook.
This article asks whether “sharenting” (sharing representations of one’s parenting or children online) is a form of digital self-representation. Drawing on interviews with 17 parent bloggers, we explore how parents define the borders of their digital selves and justify what is their “story to tell.” We find that bloggers grapple with profound ethical dilemmas, as representing their identities as parents inevitably makes public aspects of their children’s lives, introducing risks that they are, paradoxically, responsible for safeguarding against. Parents thus evaluate what to share by juggling multiple obligations – to themselves, their children in the present and imagined into the future, and to their physical and virtual communities. The digital practices of representing the relational self are impeded more than eased by the individualistic notion of identity instantiated by digital platforms, thereby intensifying the ambivalence of both parents and the wider society in judging emerging genres of blogging the self.
In France, childhood was considered quite early to be a ‘common good’ and a source of human capital, mainly because of the demographic challenge that the country was facing at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time, children were the expected results of a probirth family policy. Then new social problems emerged, new public debates took place and new political measures were implemented throughout the century. Indeed, family policy is not restricted to child care. It also includes many other issues: civil law, women’s rights, social and gender equity, support for disadvantaged households, same-sex couples, etc. Depending on the priorities, different periods can be identified (Commaille and Martin, 1998). But if we consider public child-care policies specifically, what about these changes? How can they be defined? Do they correspond to what Peter Hall calls ‘third-order change’, marked by radical changes and associated with ‘paradigm shift’? Or to ‘normal policymaking’, that is, a process that adjusts policy without challenging the main objectives of a given policy paradigm, which defines firstand second-order change (Hall, 1993)? In this perspective, can these changes be defined as a ‘path dependency process’ (Pierson, 2004)?
Zusammenfassung
In Perspektive des Ansatzes „Doing Family“ kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass Familien sich durch alltägliche Praktiken kontinuierlich im Rahmen sozialer (Re-)Konstruktionsleistungen herstellen und bestätigen. Die Mediatisierung und Virtualisierung des familialen Alltags hat zur Folge, dass Doing Family-Strategien vermehrt mit und durch Medien ausgeübt werden. Aufgrund der Möglichkeiten zur Vergemeinschaftung und Beziehungspflege sowie zum kommunikativen und informativen Austausch eignen sich insbesondere Social Media-Angebote, um Familien in der (Re-)Konstruktion ihres Selbst- und Fremdbildes zu unterstützen. Gleichzeitig erfahren jene Praktiken Grenzen, die einerseits aus dem Mangel an physischer Ko-Präsenz resultieren, andererseits auf unzureichende medienbezogene Bewältigungskompetenzen zurückzuführen sind. Der Beitrag diskutiert aktuelle wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse im Spannungsfeld von Doing Family und Social Media und setzt sie in Beziehung zu empirischen Ergebnissen aus dem Forschungsprojekt „Medienkulturen in Familien in belasteten Lebenslagen“.
Analyzing empirical data in order to develop a new theory is often based on the search for so called categories. - In seeking to discover such categories, it is as if the researcher is asking, what is the main story in this data?. However proper attention needs to be paid to what a category is, because different methods and techniques for discovering categories, based on different understandings of the term "category", have been developed within different research traditions. For example Qualitative Content Analysis (MAYRING) and the methodology of Grounded Theory (GLASER; STRAUSS and CORBIN) work with different, partly implicit, notions of what constitutes a category. In this article, defining the term of a [scientific] "category" with regard to WITTGENSTEIN, searching for scientific categories in empirical gathered data and determining powerful categories within Grounded Theory Methodology are reflected upon and demonstrated.
This article provides an alternative to the masculine construction of the blogosphere by analyzing 'mommy bloggers' through the lenses of feminism and autobiography. It uses the event of the 2005 BlogHer conference as a starting point for a discussion about the mommy blogger phenomenon, wherein a constellation of ensuing conversations challenge the use of the title 'mommy blogger' and the activities that are encompassed by it. In qualitatively examining the form and content of mommy blogs, this article ultimately argues for their potential to build communities and to challenge dominant representations of motherhood within our society.
The mother-child relationship in the first weeks of life can be described in terms of national styles with respect to both demographic trends and welfare provisions. However, even the most elementary exchanges between a mother and her child (e.g. sleep, nutrition) tend to reflect different ideals of motherhood. These differences are shown at a micro-level using three different empirical approaches: parent advice books, styles of birthing, and internet discussion groups. These are compared across Germany, United Kingdom and France and traced back to historical developments and phenomena of long duration (longue duree). These are related, at a macro-level to the three countries' social policies in support of families.
Zusammenfassung
Die Mutter-Kind-Beziehung in den ersten Lebenswochen lässt sich in national differenzierten Typen beschreiben, sowohl hinsichtlich der demographischen Eckdaten als auch hinsichtlich der wohlfahrtsstaatlichen Rahmenbedingungen. Aber selbst die elementarsten Begegnungen zwischen Mutter und Kind (Schlafen, Ernährung) zeigen deutlich unterschiedliche Leitbilder von Mutterschaft. Diese Differenzen werden auf der Mikro-Ebene durch drei empirische Zugänge (Ratgeberliteratur, Geburtsstile, Internet-Foren) im deutsch-englisch-französischen Vergleich nachgewiesen, auf historische Entwicklungen und Phänomene der Longue duree zurückgeführt sowie zur Makro-Ebene politischer Unterstützungssysteme in Beziehung gesetzt.
There are marked differences between France and Germany in terms of the fertility level which are traced back to different family policy frameworks and to differences in the normative expectations as to the role of woman and mother. The influence exerted by these structural and cultural differences on desired fertility in both countries is examined with data from the German and French Generations and Gender Survey of 2005, Western and Eastern Germany being analysed separately. The results show that differences in attitudes between Western Germany and France are less pronounced than those between Western and Eastern Germany. When it comes to childless persons, cultural factors exert a significant influence on desired fertility; above all affirmation of the traditional housewife role has a positive impact in both countries, whilst there are indications that a negative attitude towards working mothers has a negative impact in Western Germany. The impact with parents tends to stem from structural factors, i.e. the actual earning constellation. A dual-earner partnership has a positive influence on fathers’ desired fertility in France, whilst its influence onWestern German mothers is negative.
Le Conflit: la femme et la mère [the conflict: The woman and the mother
- E Badinter
- Badinter E.
Badinter, E. (2010). Le Conflit: la femme et la mère [the conflict: The woman and the mother]. Paris:
Èdition flammarion.
Revue des sciences sociales
Revue des sciences sociales, 61, 66-75. doi:10.4000/revss.3842
Theory of the hashtag
- A Bernard
- Bernard A.
Bernard, A. (2019). Theory of the hashtag. Hoboken: Wiley.